Friday, February 3, 2017

Once more about Fair Play in Orienteering

There are a lot of stories about outstanding FairPlay behavior in Orienteering. We all remember when Thierry Gueorgiou, Anders Norberg and Michal Smola sacrificed WOC-medals and saved life of injured Swedish runner. Also I remember famous story when Olav Lundanes made DSQ to him-self, because he cross forbidden area during NM-sprint. But there are also another stories, stories about runners who want to win at any cost. Stories about runners who don't care about other participants and about Fair Play. One of these stories happened during the final race of Bergen Sprint camp.

On the second last control Galina Vinogradova was the first one. She was punching at Emit-station but suddenly Kirsi Nirmi just pushed out Galina's arm and made punching by her-self. After this rude and unfair action the race for Galina was over. And K.Nurmi after the finish said that Galina is wrong: ''You just felt like I push-out your arm. I don't remember that I made it''.

Let me remind one funny story. Doctor was making patients check-up in the hospital. He asked his assistant:
- How is A. Smith from the fifth ward?
- He is getting worse.
- No, no, no. You are wrong! You have to say: patient Smith feels like he is getting worse. This is the modern medical view of the origins of sickness.
- OK.

Next day, same patients check-up:
- How is A. Smith from the fifth ward today?
- He feels that he died.

That's funny story but I am really sad. Of course it is easy to say, that another runner loose the race because of ''she felt something and this feeling is not a true''.

This is not first time when I see really rude behavior during punching or at the finish corridor. That happens. And definitely there is a lack in IOF rules (Let say in athletics physical contact and obstacles to other runners leads to disqualification). I always thought that we are like a one big family in Orienteering and Fair Play is the common belief for O-runners. Looks like I was wrong.

What is common for using doping, visiting embargo areas, crossing forbidden areas or rude actions near the control point/finish corridor? The common is the intention to win at any cost. Fair Play for such people does not matter. Are we gonna to accept this in our sport?!.

#FairPlay #cleansportco
P.S. Petteri Kähäri (Finnish headcoach) has made comments about the situation: "Sprint it can be tight fights and that is part of the game". Petteri! is it OK when next time my runners will use some tricks from American football against your runners near the control? Its just a tight fight in the Sprint!

P.P.S. In my opinion, in orienteering should win the athlete who make better navigation and faster running. Only these two skills matter.

And what part of your blogtext is fairplay? Really? You are a grown man who should know better than to openly attack someone with your words like that. Listen to the advise above. The right thing to do here is to delete this text, write a new one about fair play and call Kirsi to appologise.

Thanks for your comment. Let me explain. I meet unfairness, I react. That's it. I hate doping, I hate any kind of cheating, I hate unfairness in any forms. And I have the right to speak freely about my position about it. This is how democracy works. Right?

As the third runner in the leading group in this race and the only (?) witness to this incident, I feel like I have to speak up. I am very sad to see this kind of personal attack on the internet, on a dispute that should be settled in private among the involved parties.

The race was a very tight towards the end and the speed was high. As we approached the second last control, two runners went for the same punching unit. None of them was clearly ahead of the other. When they both went for the same unit, the one closest to the path towards the last control, they both took a chance that they would reach the unit first and gain a small advantage. This is a tactical choice, and the situation could easily have been avoided by choosing another punching unit. If you decide to go all in, you have to take the consequence when you don’t reach the unit first. The implication that any violence or foul play was involved is incorrect.

As you are looking for examples of fair play in orienteering, I will give you one. When Galina was not at the start in time for this race, it was decided that the start would be postponed for one minute to give her an equal chance to fight for the victory. I did not hear a single complaint after the race from the runners who finished behind Galina. I think this is an excellent example of fair play and sportsmanship by the runners and the organizers, and I was happy to be a part of it.

I would also like to congratulate both Kirsi and Galina on strong performances this weekend. I don’t know any of them well, but they both seem like decent people and strong competitors. I hope that this blog post represents an error in judgement that will not be repeated.

Publicly shaming the athlete without any 'factual evidence' of what you are claiming is slander - where is the video of the incident? You didn't have to mention the names of the athletes and coaches in here to prove your point, which ironically you seem to be doing the opposite of.

Slander - The action or crime of making a false spoken statement (Oxford Dictionary). Please, mention what is exactly 'false spoken'?? Finnish runner made physical contact (push-out arm during punching of other runner) and got unfair advantage. This is not forbidden according to the current rules. During same situation at World Cup knock-out (where I worked like a National coach and even have video evidence) I made protest, protest was rejected with words: "tough contact is the part of the game in sprint competitions". And here again Finnish did not break rules! Everything is OK, except Fair Play and respect to other runners. But we have to make clear rules about it! And Chair IOF Rules Commission committee has promised to consider this!

Or do you think that mess during punching (especially during some Jukola/Venla) is a normal thing for our sport?? Do we need to keep every-thing in the same way?? Current case is just an occasion to make better rules and point out that victory is not the main thing. There is something more in sport. But if you believe that this way to make victory is good enough - its your choice! Its up to you! I have another value, and I will not stop fighting against unfairness in any forms!

If you are just using it as an example to highlight how certain rules need to be changed, what is the point in using names? I do not see how that is necessary. It does not matter to the IOF what a specific person (supposedly) did, but rather the general actions that are or are not prohibited by the current rules. If I understand you correctly, that is also your own point.I would also suggest you take that post down. you have not brought forward your point in a neutral manner and now you are just hurting people..

Naomi. You are a strange person, you know) "the way you say it..."; "the tone you used...", "micro facial expressions during conversation says different" etc. Please, read written, don't make linguistic analysis and don't search some hidden senses.